OTTAWA — The Liberal government has named quantum technologies as a priority topic for the G7 meeting in Kananaskis — placing the nascent tech centre stage at the summit for the first time.
It’s a move meant to showcase Canada’s strength in the emerging field, which, like artificial intelligence, promises to transform many industries.
AI is at a more advanced stage of development than quantum technologies, said Mark Daley, professor and chief AI officer at Western University.
"These are earlier stage investments in a technology that has the potential to be truly transformative. It lets us compute things much faster, using much less energy than classical computers," he said.
"Including that is sort of our way of hedging our portfolio."
Ahead of the summit, the Prime Minister’s Office outlined Canada’s priorities for the June 15 to 17 summit. It said in a media release the government would "seek agreements and co-ordinated action" on a number of topics, including "using artificial intelligence and quantum to unleash economic growth."
Industry welcomed the move and the consortium Quantum Industry Canada called it a "major milestone" for the sector.
Quantum technologies use the principles of quantum mechanics for applications like computing. Michael Murphy, a post-doctoral fellow and incoming director at the Centre for International and Defence Policy at Queen’s University, said quantum technologies also include "a range of sensors, communications, protocols, hardware and software."
They are all "related to the discoveries within quantum science, but apply them in the real world and manipulate systems to let us do things more securely or with greater efficiency or with greater accuracy," he said.
Quantum computers, for example, would allow for a "rapid increase in processing power," he said.
Paul Samson, president of the Centre for International Governance Innovation, said that while quantum computing hasn't reached the commercialization stage yet, there are types of quantum technology that are "here and now."
They include quantum sensing technology such as new forms of radar, and post-quantum cryptography — cybersecurity applications to protect data and communications.
Samson said that given the military and infrastructure applications and the potential for cyberattacks from adversaries, "there's a common interest" among G7 members in getting "this cryptography right."
Florian Martin-Bariteau, research chair in technology and society at the University of Ottawa, said national security of all countries is at risk without investments in both quantum computing capacity and safeguards.
"That includes not just government information," he said, but systems like banking, telecommunications and power grids that run on algorithms, which quantum computers would be able to break.
There’s an urgent need "to make sure that we are ready before" quantum computers hit the market, he said.
Canada is a leader in both quantum research and startups, Samson said, noting "it's kind of where we were on AI maybe 15 years ago."
But Canada didn’t "scale up as much" on AI and ended up losing some commercial opportunities to the U.S. and other countries, he said.
"I think Canada is very focused on not doing that now, making quantum really a priority, because we're well positioned on it," he said.
Martin-Bariteau agreed.
"Let’s hope that this ecosystem stays Canadian, because we know that unfortunately a lot of the AI ecosystem got bought up by U.S. big tech," he said.
Samson’s organization was in charge of putting together advice from various think tanks ahead of the G7 meeting. The final recommendations included putting a G7 contact group in place to co-ordinate quantum supply chains and launching an observatory focused on quantum safety.
Martin-Bariteau, who co-authored a brief that recommended the supply chain contact group, said the computing power of quantum computers "could break all of the encryption algorithms that we have today."
"So for the past years, we've seen a lot of national security and defence conversation about quantum and a lot of countries passed import-export regulations," he said, adding those regulations are now impeding collaboration and putting partnerships at risk.
Quantum tech is a new priority but artificial intelligence has been on the G7 agenda at previous summits.
Martin-Bariteau noted that when Japan held the presidency, it started the Hiroshima process focusing on generative AI and a code of conduct, while Italy’s presidency the following year looked at AI in the public sector.
Daley said "time is not wasted at multilateral meetings of very busy people."
"So this is the clearest possible indicator you can get that the G7 governments and heads of government are taking these technologies very seriously as agents of significant change in our economies and our societies."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 13, 2025.
Anja Karadeglija, The Canadian Press
